In the production of various assemblies, a large quantity of fastener holes are typically drilled in mating parts in order to facilitate mechanical attachment of the various components. For example, during aircraft assembly operations, wing skin panels may be mechanically fastened to substructure such as stiffeners and stringers. Holes must be drilled at spaced intervals along the joint between the stringer and the panel to allow installation of the mechanical fasteners.
The drilling of such fastener holes must typically be performed with a high degree of precision with respect to locational tolerances of the holes as well as with respect to hole orientation and hole size. Because of the relatively high degree of precision required for such fastener holes, it is typically the practice to drill such holes using an alignment tool or assembly fixture. Conventional alignment tools or assembly fixtures typically includes a plurality of drill bushings located at spaced intervals along a hole pattern. The drill bushings maintain alignment of a drill motor that is used to drill each of the holes in the hole pattern.
In an aircraft assembly production line, various assembly fixtures are used during the overall assembly of each production unit. For example, during wing assembly, assembly tools may be used to perform manufacturing operations on the wing skin panels and substructure. In any production line, it is typically desirable to improve production flow and reduce overall assembly time.
One way in which assembly time can be reduced in a production line is to perform certain operations in parallel with one another instead of performing all operations in sequence. Another way to improve production flow is to move certain operations off of main assembly tools to reduce the amount of time that each assembly tool is occupied by each production unit. As applied to operations involving the drilling of fastener holes, it may be desirable to perform certain drilling operations off of the main assembly tool thereby freeing the main assembly tool for other operations and avoiding time-consuming setup for drilling holes using a conventional drill jig or alignment tool.
As can be seen, there exists a need in the art for a system and method for drilling fastener holes in an assembly which improves overall production flow. Furthermore, there exists a need in the art for a system and method for drilling fastener holes in an assembly which can increase part flow and which is low in cost, simple in construction and easy to use.